1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sealing structure for use between spaced apart ends of adjacent concrete sections of a highway, or adjacent sections of a bridge, to sealingly accommodate changes in the spacing between the sections as the result of thermal contraction and expansion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,713 (D. D. Brown et al) discloses a highway expansion joint strip seal in which each of the opposed ends of an elastomeric strip is provided with a downwardly extending enlargement or bead which is engaged in an upwardly facing opening of a metallic frame. Each metallic frame for use in such strip seal is fabricated by roll forming, that is, from a flat plate by rolling operations, which is a relatively expensive manufacturing procedure. Elastomeric strips of the type illustrated in this patent have also been used in conjunction with metallic frames which are formed by extrusion, also an expensive manufacturing procedure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,609 (G. S. Puccio) discloses a highway expansion joint strip seal in which each of the opposed ends of an elastomeric strip is provided with an enlarged bead portion with an outwardly facing convex curved end which is received in a generally C-shaped cavity of a metallic edge member. The edge members of this reference are manufactured by extrusion. Further, expansion joint strip seals according to the prior art have been difficult to assemble due to the need to insert the enlarged ends of the elastomeric strip into the somewhat smaller opening of metallic frame of edge members. To the extent that the difficulty of assembly has been reduced by increasing the size of the openings in the metallic frame or edge members or by reducing the size of the enlarged ends of the elastomeric strip, the resistance of the elastomeric member to being pulled out of the metallic frame or edge member has been undesirably reduced.